Norris Geyser Basin
Yellowstone's hottest and fastest-changing thermal area. Porcelain Basin has milky-white and blue-green ground, and Steamboat Geyser, the world's tallest active geyser, is here too.
Norris Geyser Basin sits at the crossing point of the figure-eight route and is Yellowstone's hottest, most acidic and most volatile thermal area. Drilling measured temperatures of 237°C about 330 m underground, and earthquakes can change springs overnight. The basin has two sections, with boardwalks totaling about 4 km. On the north side, Porcelain Basin offers open views. Milky-white sinter ground is dotted with turquoise-blue hot pools and hissing vents, looking from a distance like a snowfield steaming white. On the south side, forest boardwalks in Back Basin lead to Steamboat Geyser, the world's tallest active geyser. Its major eruptions can exceed 90 m, but intervals range from days to decades. Since 2018 it has been active, sometimes erupting more than a dozen times a year. Other features include Emerald Pool and Echinus Geyser. At the entrance, the Norris Geyser Basin Museum, a 1930s log-and-stone building, explains how geothermal features form. Next door, the Museum of the National Park Ranger is free to visit. The basin is about 34 km from Mammoth and about 50 km from Old Faithful, making it a good stop on the way between them. The sinter ground is highly acidic and prone to collapse, so stay on the boardwalks.
Opening hours
All day (while the road is open)
Nearby sights
- Artists' Paintpots
- Gibbon Falls
- Firehole Canyon Drive & Firehole Falls
- Fountain Paint Pot
- Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
- Mammoth Hot Springs
- Grand Prismatic Spring
- Fairy Falls Trail & Grand Prismatic Overlook